A Taste of Autumn
Do you have a favorite autumn recipe? Lots of things are popular this time of year, including pumpkin-flavored baked goods, pumpkin-spiced drinks, hearty soups, butternut squash, stews, pies, and so on. But for us, we have to admit that baked goods incorporating apples win out at this time of year. There’s something about the simple apple flavor that adds a lot to a baked good, plus you can always pair it with cinnamon and that’s sure to be a winner. And that’s exactly what today’s recipe does! Delicious cinnamon apple streusel muffins with chunks of soft apple throughout, topped with a buttery streusel topping that adds just the right crunchy texture and richness. Plus, just to add to the reasons why you should make this, it’s really easy to put together.
Scandi Influences
You might ask yourself: how this is a Scandinavian recipe? It’s not exclusively Scandinavian, of course. These muffins are the classic quickbread ones that are popular across the world, but especially in the US. There’s also the English muffin, which is a completely different type of baked good, made with yeasted bread dough and cooked on a griddle instead of baked in an oven. Neither is Scandinavian. However, this recipe in particular was inspired by our æblekage (apple cake) recipe, a delicious classic Danish cake. Of course, it’s hard to argue this apple cinnamon streusel muffin isn’t a cake and flavor combination that now exists in many cultures across the world, so you may have your own name for it. But that just proves how delicious it is!
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins: Simple and Delicious
Muffins have become a favorite baked good of ours to whip up quickly, because they’re very easy and so adaptable. We’ve made versions ranging from classic blueberry to banana and peanut butter to sweet potato and chocolate. We’ve tried making healthy versions and not-so-healthy versions (you can easily guess which tastes better 😂). So why are they so easy? Well, when you get the right ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients, making sure to incorporate some fats, sugars, and eggs for stabilization, then you just can’t make a bad muffin. Some certainly are better than others though, but you can be sure the ones that we share here are our best results. These muffins are easy to make on a Sunday and enjoy throughout the week; they’re so easy to grab on the go and snack on, or heat them up and add some ice cream for a nice dessert. Yum!
Ingredients You’ll Need
For these delicious muffins, you’ll need very simple ingredients: eggs, granulated sugar, all-purpose or plain flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, milk, cinnamon, and fresh apple. Feel free to replace the oil with another neutral oil, like avocado or sunflower, and use plant-based milk if you prefer. For the streusel topping, you’ll need all-purpose or plain flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, and melted butter. You could use all brown sugar if that’s what you have, and replace the butter with margarine or a vegan alternative. Speaking of vegan recipes, if you want to make a vegan version of this, replace the eggs with 150g (1/2 cup) unsweetened applesauce and, in addition to the baking powder, add 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Then use plant-based butter and milk alternatives.
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
This is a simple batter to put together. Start by whipping up the eggs and sugar for a few minutes until a little bit lighter in color. Add the vanilla, milk, and oil and whisk together. Combine the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon – in a separate bowl. Chop the apples and add the small chunks into the dry ingredients, tossing so they’re coated (this helps them not sink to the bottom of the muffins, although you can’t always avoid this happening). Then add the dry into the wet and mix together until no dry spots remain. Distribute this batter evenly into your muffin tin. For the streusel topping, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir together until you have a crumbly texture. Using your hands, top the muffins with this mixture. Bake on a high temperature for about 5 minutes and then lower the temperature for the next 15 minutes. This helps the muffins get a nice rise. Let them cool slightly and enjoy!
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
BATTER
- 2 large eggs
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 120 ml milk
- 60 ml vegetable oil
- 1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 medium sized apples
TOPPING
- 120 grams all-purpose flour
- 50 grams brown sugar
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 70 grams butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Prep your muffin tin with muffin liners, or by greasing the tin with oil or butter. You can bake all 12 muffins at once using a regular muffin tin, or make 6 at a time to promote a little bit more of an even rise.
- Prep your apples by chopping them into small cubes – no need to peel.
- Beat eggs and sugar together using a whisk for a few minutes until slightly lighter in color.
- Add the milk, oil, and vanilla extract to the eggs and sugar and whisk to combine.
- Combine your dry ingredients for the batter – all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon – in a separate bowl.
- Add the apples to the dry ingredients and mix so that the chunks of apple are coated in flour.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until no dry spots remain.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the muffin tin. This recipes makes about 12 regular sized muffins, but if you would like them to be on the larger side you can use a bigger muffin pan and make 6 instead. This just may affect the final baking time! You also may want to bake 6 at a time of the regular size, but this is up to you. Alternating in the tin could help promote a more even rise.
- For the streusel topping, combine all the ingredients except for the butter in a bowl – flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well to evenly distribute.
- Melt butter and mix with the rest of the topping ingredients, until clumps form.
- Divide the topping mixture evenly over top of the muffin batter.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 390 F (200 C), then lower the oven temperature to 345 F (175 C) for about 10 minutes. Check the muffins – a knife inserted to the center of one should come out clean. They may need a few minutes longer!
- Let the muffins cool for a few minutes before eating and then enjoy!
